Pretoria, 28 November 2016 – SARS received 5.74 million returns by the close of tax season for non-provisional taxpayers on Friday, 25 November 2016, comprising of:
- 4.16 million submissions by individuals for the 2015/16 tax year
- 47 000 submissions by trusts for 2015/16 tax year and
- 1.52 million returns for previous tax years from individuals and trusts
The key statistics of the tax season were:
- The SARS Contact Centre handled more than 3.6 million calls
- The SARS branch offices assisted more than 5.1 million taxpayers
- SARS processed 99.9% of all returns electronically
- 92.4% of tax returns were assessed within 3 seconds
- 93.28% of refunds were paid to taxpayers within 72 hours
- 173 000 taxpayers made use of the Help You e-File channel which is 15% higher than in 2015
- 44 373 made use SARS’ mobile application to submit their 2016 tax returns
SARS imposed penalties to the value of R 1.64 billion on defaulting taxpayers. Taxpayers that have not submitted their returns are urged to do so immediately.
An astounding R15.5 billion in tax refunds were paid to 1.98 million taxpayers by the Tax Season deadline, directly contributing to household incomes and the domestic economy.
Commenting on Tax Season Commissioner Moyane said, “SARS wishes to express its appreciation to all those taxpayers that submitted their tax returns before the deadline. Paying tax is the highest form of patriotism.
“SARS also wishes to thank all its employees for their efforts in making Tax Season successful. The focus, discipline and selfless service of the men and women of SARS are what makes SARS one of the best revenue services in the world”.
